Oryx and Crake

By: Margaret Atwood

Narrated by: Campbell Scott

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A stunning and provocative new novel by the internationally celebrated author of The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize

Margaret Atwood’s new novel is so utterly compelling, so prescient, so relevant, so terrifyingly-all-too-likely-to-be-true, that listeners may find their view of the world forever changed after listening to it.

This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers. For listeners of Oryx and Crake, nothing will ever look the same again.

The narrator of Atwood's riveting novel calls himself Snowman. When the story opens, he is sleeping in a tree, wearing an old bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. He searches for supplies in a wasteland where insects proliferate and pigoons and wolvogs ravage the pleeblands, where ordinary people once lived, and the Compounds that sheltered the extraordinary. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Why is he left with nothing but his haunting memories? Alone except for the green-eyed Children of Crake, who think of him as a kind of monster, he explores the answers to these questions in the double journey he takes - into his own past, and back to Crake's high-tech bubble-dome, where the Paradice Project unfolded and the world came to grief.

With breathtaking command of her shocking material, and with her customary sharp wit and dark humour, Atwood projects us into an outlandish yet wholly believable realm populated by characters who will continue to inhabit our dreams long after the last chapter. This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers.

©2002 O.W. Toad, Ltd. (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Ingenious and disturbing.… A landmark work of speculative fiction, comparable to A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World.… Atwood has surpassed herself.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Oryx and Crake can hold its own against any of the 20th century’s most potent dystopias – Brave New World, 1984, The Space Merchants – with regard to both dramatic impact and fertility of invention.…Oryx and Crake showcases a nightmare version of the present era of globalization on a globe coming apart at its ecological seams.… It is a scathing (because bang-on) portrait of the way we live now.…Majestic.…” –Washington Post

“Atwood’s new masterpiece.…Extraordinary.… [Atwood pulls] back the curtain on her terrible vision with such tantalizing precision, its fearsome implications don’t fully reveal themselves until the final pages.… A darkly comic work of speculative fiction.” –W Magazine (U.S.)

Incredible book, outstanding narration.

I had been recommended this book and was a bit leery on buying it. Let's just say that I was blown away. I do not want to give away any of the story whatsoever, but if you like unconventional fiction, I can't suggest this book enough. Also, I haven't heard from Campell Scott since Singles, but holy crap he is an awesome narrator. I would put him right up there with R. C. Bray. In closing, get this book now.

Amazing

worst part was when it ended. cant wait to read the rest. excellently written. beautiful performance.

A great dystopia that is just starting

It's weird to read this book in 2020. The virus in "Oryx and Crake" is so not as the virus that has taken over the planet, and the consequences are not as tragical as in Atwood's pages, but the fear is the same. Jimmy (a.k.a. Snowman) believes he's the sole survivor of a virus that destroyed humanity. The last human, at least, because he lives with the weirdest animal/human hybrids ever. At first the story is hard to follow, so many names and places that are out of the author's imagination but so close to real life that makes you wonder, your mind starts going to weird places and then you're lost in the book. As it moves along the story becomes clearer and you start to understand Jimmy, and Oryx, and Crate. Wonderful characters, strange lives, weird people, so broken and so hurt... And yet, so beautiful and relatable.... It probably needs a second reading, but I want to move forward with the story... The ending is awesome, ends in such a high note that you kinda want to buy (or start reading) the next one immediately. What a cliffhanger!!

Not my style of writing.

Story took a very long time to take shape for my liking. she is a good writer though.

Easy dystopia

Short powerful read. Margaret does such a great job of creating worlds that run tangential to our own. I close my eyes and can find my place in the reality she spins. Good read. Would definitely do it again.

Clinical and strange

A creepy disforia that isn’t too far off from worst case scenarios of the not so distant future. Though I found the style disconnected, clinical, and discomforting. Really great reader.

Cant get into it enough to finish.

Story could be good but struggled with the style and the narrator. My attention wanders worse than usual with audio books.

Amazing Stoty

Marharet Atwood creates unforgettable worlds and unforgettable characters. She's masterful at creating stories within stories, and making even the inevitable boredom of post-apocalypse a fascinating tale

Atwood you rock my world

I saw Margaret Atwood speak at a conference in London in June 2018 called Under Her Eye about women and the environment. This book did not disappoint. Based on sound research she has created a fascinating possible future

Thought-provoking

I enjoyed the futuristic view of the society portrayed in the novel because it has many parallels to our modern-day society and the direction in which we may be headed. Campbell Scott's reading set a good tone for the novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.